ESSAY: Is Cameron Boozer the best fit for Brooklyn?

As the Brooklyn Nets inch closer to finishing the season with a top-three NBA Draft lottery projection, it’s time to put on the wishful-thinking cap and look ahead.

Assuming Brooklyn lands near the top of the board, there will be no shortage of intriguing prospects.

But the Nets already have intriguing prospects.

What they need is a franchise changer, someone who can lead them out of the league’s bottom tier and make becoming a Net feel appealing to an available star for the first time since the Big Three era.

“Identity” is a common cliché tossed around when discussing young teams trying to establish themselves.  But even if teams don’t formally sit down and define it, having a strong organizational culture has an impact on everything.

That’s why, depending on where the Nets land, the highest-rated player available might not automatically be the best fit for a rebuilding team still figuring itself out. Sean Marks & co. take high character very, very seriously when assessing prospects.

An unhappy star can derail a takeoff before the seatbelt sign even turns off. And after the time this franchise has invested in starting over, Marks cannot afford to miss.

At this stage of the process, you’d have to think Brooklyn’s guy has to be Duke’s Cameron Boozer, a two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year who is having one of the best analytical collegiate seasons of all time and checks other boxes as well.

He leads the country in Player Efficiency Rating, Offensive Box Plus/Minus, Box Plus/Minus, Win Shares per 40 minutes and total Win Shares. His 19.82 BPM and 13.31 OBPM are the second-highest marks posted since 2010-11, trailing only Zion Williamson’s 2018-19 run, which is about as elite a comparison as it gets.

Through 29 games, the freshman power forward is averaging 22.5 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and 1.8 steals.

Drafting four guards and a forward who operates like one in the 2025 NBA Draft doesn’t lock Brooklyn into targeting the frontcourt. The Nets will tell you it’s always about BPA, best player available. But it does matter when you’re sketching out the future.

At 6’10” and 250 pounds, with an uncanny playmaking ability from the 4, the 18-year-old offers size that creates offense instead of slowing it down. 

He plays advanced for his age, physically and mentally, like someone who already knows exactly what he’s good at and how to lean into it.

“Cam is never satisfied, I think that’s the great thing about him,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said.  “He’ll find something from tonight’s game, I’m sure, where he’s pissed at, he didn’t do as well, even though he had 32 (points), nine (rebounds) and four (assists). That’s what makes him special. I think when your best player is that way, it becomes contagious and have a big effect on the rest of the group.”

While his skillset should translate quickly to the NBA, some of the bully-ball stuff, lowering a shoulder into a defender’s chest and carving out space at the rim, probably won’t be as easy against grown men.

Still, that doesn’t mean he’s limited. He’s just taking what’s easiest right now. He can get downhill and finish with either hand, score on the block, face up and knock down a jumper, and even slide into catch-and-shoot threes off movement. The foundation is all there.

Then, there’s the intangible: Boozer is the son of Carlos Boozer who played for four teams in a 15-year NBA career, twice being named to the NBA All-Star team and once to an All-NBA berth. He also won gold as part of the 2008 USA dream team in the Olympics and an NCAA championship.

Fellow projected top-three pick Darryn Peterson has seen his stock dip amid concerns about lingering injuries and consistency, and one decision-maker told ND this week that A.J. Dybantsa may not be the player to “set your culture” due to maturity questions. As previously mentioned, the player the Nets select in the draft is expected to play a significant role in attracting a future superstar.

Brooklyn’s two most promising young pieces this season have come from backcourt backgrounds — Egor Demin and Nolan Traoré. Demin has already emerged as one of the top young 3-point shooters in the NBA, while Traoré is learning how to properly channel his explosiveness and use his speed to control tempo instead of just playing fast.

With two rising young talents in their backcourt, Boozer can slide in and form a dynamic two-man game with either to carve up defenses for the near future.

Whether lottery luck puts Brooklyn in a chance to immediately draft him, the Nets have options.

They control 10 first-round picks over the next five years, the second-largest asset pool in the league, 13 over the next seven. If they decide to move up, unlike last year, they have enough draft capital to make another rebuilding team at least pick up the phone.

Sitting around and waiting for a player of his caliber to fall into their lap isn’t a safe bet by any means.

If this rebuild is really about getting the plane off the ground and keeping it there, then this is the pick.